11 Managing Analytics

This chapter describes how to configure and manage Analytics for WebCenter Portal and Portal Framework applications. Analytics enables you to display usage and performance metrics for these applications.

Always use Fusion Middleware Control or the WLST command-line tool to review and configure back-end services for WebCenter Portal and Portal Framework applications. Any configuration changes that you make postdeployment are stored in the MDS metadata store as customizations. See Section 1.3.5, "Oracle WebCenter Portal Configuration Considerations." Any changes that you make to Analytics Collector configuration are stored in the Analytics database.

To perform the tasks in this chapter, you must be granted the WebLogic Server Admin role through the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console and the Administrator role in the deployed application:

Behavior Tracking: Users can analyze portal metrics to determine usage patterns, such as portal visit duration and usage over time.

User Profile Correlation: Users can correlate metric information with user profile information. Usage tracking reports can be viewed and filtered by user profile data such as country, company, or state. For more details, see the "Query Options" section in Oracle Fusion Middleware Building Portals with Oracle WebCenter Portal.

An overview of Analytics components and ready-to-use task flows are described in the following sections:

The Analytics schema (ACTIVITIES) and the WebCenter Portal schema (WEBCENTER) can be installed on the same database or on separate databases.

11.3.2 Analytics - Configuration

The Analytics Collector is configured to receive events out-of-the-box, using installation defaults. If the default values are not suitable for your installation or you have a cluster, you may configure different values using WLST or MBeans Browser. For more details, Section 11.4, "Configuring Analytics Collector Settings."

Out-of-the-box, WebCenter Portal is not configured to send events to the Analytics Collector. If you want to collect usage and performance metrics for WebCenter Portal (or any Portal Framework application) you must register the Analytics Collector and enable event collection. For more details, see Section 11.5, "Registering an Analytics Collector for Your Application." Once connected, analytics data is collected and displays in your application (through Analytics task flows) without further configuration.

11.3.3 Analytics - Security Considerations

Administrators - Users with the Administrator role have access to all Analytics task flows

Moderators - Within a particular portal, members with the Moderator role have access to Analytics task flows that display usage data for that portal only

Analytics usage data is valuable for portal analysis but might be regarded as private or sensitive to portal users. To protect security and privacy interests associated with usage metrics WebCenter Portal administrators and individual portal moderators must manage page security such that only appropriate, specified users have access to pages that expose analytics data. See also, the "Setting Page Security" section in Oracle Fusion Middleware Building Portals with Oracle WebCenter Portal.

Alternatively, search for CollectorConfiguration or filter the System MBean Browser tree using the MBean pattern: oracle.webcenter.analytics:*

Figure 11-3 System MBeans Browser - Analytics Collector Properties

Modify configuration properties for the Analytics Collector. For details, see Table 11-3.

Table 11-3 Analytics Collector - Configuration Properties

Field

Description

BroadcastType

Specify the network channel on which the Analytics Collector broadcasts a 'heartbeat' to advertise its location to event producers. Valid values are Broadcast and Multicast:

Broadcast - use the standard network broadcast channel.

Multicast - use a special fixed multicast address.

CollectorHostName

Enter the name of the host on which the Analytics Collector is running.

The default setting is localhost.

CollectorDefaultPort

Enter the default port number on which the Analytics Collector listens. The default value is 31314.

CollectorMaximumPort

Enter the highest port number that an Analytics Collector can use when allocating a listener.

This property is mostly used in a clustered environment where multiple collectors run in the same box. Each collector listens for incoming UDP messages on a free port within a given port range. The range is from the default port number to the maxPort number.

ClusterEnabled

The clustering settings do not apply. Clustering is not supported in this version.

ClusterName

The clustering settings do not apply. Clustering is not supported in this version.

HeartbeatFrequency

The clustering settings do not apply. Clustering is not supported in this version.

11.5 Registering an Analytics Collector for Your Application

Events raised in WebCenter Portal or a Portal Framework application using OpenUsage APIs can be sent to an Analytics Collector for use by Analytics, Recommendations and the Activity Graph Engine. If you intend to use any of the features or task flows provided by these tools you must connect WebCenter Portal or the Portal Framework application to an Analytics Collector.

While you can register multiple Analytics Collector connections for WebCenter Portal or your Portal Framework application, only one Analytics Collector is used - the default (or active) connection.

To start using a new configuration you must restart the managed server on which WebCenter Portal or your Portal Framework application is deployed.

Enter connection details for the Analytics Collector. For details, see Table 11-4.

Table 11-4 Analytics Collector Connection - Connection Details

Field

Description

Messaging Mode

This property specifies whether to send events to a clustered Analytics Collector in multicast mode or a single Analytics Collector using unicast communication. Clustering the Analytics Collector is not supported in the current release, so the only valid value for this release is Unicast.

Collector Host Name

If the messaging mode is set to Unicast, enter the host name where the Analytics Collector is running.

The default setting is localhost.

Collector Port

Enter the port on which the Analytics Collector listens for events. The default value is 31314.

Cluster Name

If the messaging mode is set to Multicast, enter the name of the cluster where a clustered Analytics Collector is running.

Timeout (Seconds)

If the messaging mode is set to Multicast, enter the length of time (in seconds) to wait for a response from the Analytics Collector.

11.6 Configuring User Profile Events Timing

User profile information is cached, meaning that changes to a user profile are not visible in reports until the cache is updated. The cache is limited to 1000 objects by default, with each object remaining in the cache for 60 minutes by default. You can change these values using WLST. To change the maximum number of objects in the cache, run the setProfileCacheNumberOfObjects command. To change the time an object remains idle in the cache, run the setProfileCacheTimeToLive command.

If WebCenter Portal or your Portal Framework application was recently upgraded, verify that the domain startup script does not contain legacy Analytics Collector settings as these values override any connection details that you specify through Fusion Middleware Control or using WLST.

Shut down the managed server on which WebCenter Portal or your Portal Framework application is deployed.

Edit the domain startup script setDomainEnv located at:

UNIX: DOMAIN_HOME/bin/setDomainEnv.sh

Windows: DOMAIN_HOME\bin\setDomainEnv.cmd

Remove Analytics Collector settings.

Restart the managed server.

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